CIF-Northern Section: Pleasant Valley fights back to even Almond Bowl series score at Chico

CHICO, Calif. — After a resounding 28-14 comeback victory Friday in the much-celebrated Almond Bowl, the Pleasant Valley-Chico football team has tied the score. 

That is, in the 51-year history of the battle between Chico high schools. 

After fighting back from a 14-0 deficit at Panther Stadium and getting two touchdown runs by Matt Kinoshita — half of the team's four on the night — the Vikings tied the series at 25-25-1. 

It was the the second straight victory in the series for the Vikings, who won last year’s Almond Bowl 27-14 before the Panthers went on to win the Northern Section title.

Chico got its home crowd on its side early. 

Sophomore Jaden Neugebaur intercepted a pass, and the Panthers finished their second offensive drive of the game with running back Dion Coleman’s first touchdown in 364 days. 

Coleman rushed for 1,176 yards and 18 TDs in five games before getting injured on Oct. 14, 2021. On Friday, he rushed 11 times for 57 yards and one TD. 

The Panthers led 14-0 at the end of one quarter, but the Vikings scored with 2:30 left until halftime, starting a 28-0 run to finish off the game. 

Matt Kinoshita sealed the game with a 34-yard rushing TD with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter that gave the Vikings a 28-14 lead.

“We learned from last week,” Kinoshita said when referencing the Vikings’ 31-0 loss to Enterprise. “We fell apart when we went down two scores, but we kept our heads up and stayed in the game. We had a strong third quarter.”

Pleasant Valley coach Mark Cooley said before Tuesday’s game that, “This game is always close. It doesn’t matter if a team is going into it 0-5 or whatever, this one always ends up close until a team establishes its dominance. It’s whichever team that does that comes out on top.” 

The Vikings established dominance in the second half, and they came out on top.

Takeaways

• Inexperience lost Chico the game, whereas Pleasant Valley’s experience and halftime adjustments won the Vikings the game.
• All three of Pleasant Valley’s running backs played key roles, which Cooley said was led by the blockers executing the scheme they practiced all week.
• Chico won the turnover battle, but its offense could not get going in the second half due to struggles with penalties on offense and defense. This comes with youth.
• Pleasant Valley’s veteran team was able to make halftime adjustments. Its rushing attack could not be stopped in the second half.
• The biggest play of the game came after the Vikings took a 21-14 lead. Chico’s defense stopped PV to set up for 4th-and-4, but an offside gave the Vikings a first down. Kinoshita then broke off for a 43-yard rush to the 3-yard-line.
• PV captain Luke Alloway made another big play, swatting down an Azari Cruz pass on Chico’s second-to-last possession.
• The electricity and enthusiasm between both sides is nonstop and genuine. See more of the festivities below by Gary Jones. 

Scoring plays

• Q1, 2:36 | C — Dion Coleman 1 run (PAT good), CHS 7, PVHS 0
• Q1, 0:58 | C — Cruz 21-yard pass to Carlos Zepeda (PAT good). CHS 14, PVHS 0.
• Q2, 2:30 | PV — Quintynn Thomas-Brass 1 run (PAT good). CHS 14, PVHS 7.
• Q3, 3:17 | PV — Kinoshita 2 run (PAT good). CHS 14, PVHS 14.
• Q4, 4:32 | PV — Parker Williams 4 run (PAT good). PVHS 21, CHS 14.
• Q4, 2:06 | PV — Kinoshita 34 run (PAT good). PVHS 28, CHS 14.

Up next (7:30 p.m. Friday): Pleasant Valley vs. Shasta; Chico at Foothill.

All photos by SBLive photographer Gary Jones